Fond as I am of some of the bizarre stories you can find in Australian newspapers which are actually true, I've decided to share some of the 'treasures' from my archives found in my local newspaper...amusez-vous bien!
They will contain stories of bizarre accidents, stupid local crimes (which were amusing in the court reports designed to name offenders and try and embarrass them into not doing these crimes again...but I think it doesn't work..). And maybe some funny other stuff, all completely true (and where I can, I include the page numbers to prove it!)
Note: When you read these stories, you could easily get the idea that there are many stupid and crazy Australians...but remember, in my city of 80,000 people, because there doesn't seem to be a lot of crime except on weekends, there is plenty of room in the newspaper to report almost every bizarre thing that happens. In other places, they have so much crime, that mostly only the murders make it into the crime reports. Not so here, as you will see.
Pilot, 80, survives crash landing. (Un pilot a 80 ans survivre accident de petit l'avion)
The Ballarat Courier, le 15 Aout, 1998, p 53.
Sydney. When 80 year old pilot Vern Polloy watched the propeller of his light plane sputter to a stop in mid-air, he turned to his 80-year-old companion Joan Cook and said “We’re in deep trouble.â€
Le moteur s’arreté et il a tourné a sa copine, Joan Cook, aussi de l'age de 80 ans, et dit a elle: “Nous avons beaucoup des problemsâ€
Jean took one look at the ground far below, and agreed, saying “I think that’s it.â€
Jean avait regarde la terre, tres loin, et dit “Oui, je crois ce c’est caâ€
The crippled plane began to drop out of the sky.
L’avion a descendu tres vite du ciel.
He had to dodge between a bus and a car as they zoomed across a road, then ploughed into a fence, knocking off a landing wheel.
The plane careered into a concrete culvert which ripped out the undercarriage and then crashed into the grass, short of the runway.
And astonishingly, they walked out of the wreckage without a scratch.
But Vern, drawing on his 60 years flying experience, did not panic. He calmly steered the plane towards a local airstrip.
Vern avait 60 ans d’expérience du vol, et il n’avait pas panique.
Il avait dû manoeuvre entre un bus et une voiture lorsque ils avait conduit sur un route des voitures, et puis à travers d’un barrière du champs, qui a casse un volant d’avion. Et puis l’avion a coup d’un barrière en béton, qui a detruit le bas de l’avion. Et puis l’avion a arrete dans l’herbe, tout près du commencement du petit aéroport.
Etonnement, les deux vieux a marche hors de l’avion presque detruire. Ils n’etaient pas blessé, pas du tout!
The Port Macquarie couple, who have been together for 3 years, were flying their Victa CT-4 air force training air tourer to Mareeba, west of Cairns, for a two day weekend air show.
They were flying in formation with friends in another ex-RAAF trainer.
According to the Northern Star newspaper in Lismore, the plane experienced a full power failure and then lost radio communication and also visual contact with the other plane.
“Everything went dead and I said to Vern “I think that’s it†and he said to me “we’re in deep trouble†Joan told the newspaper.
“Then I saw the propeller had stopped and I knew we had to try and find somewhere to land.
I saw a beach and then Vern spotted the airport and we decided to head towards that.â€
As they lost altitude, Joan kept a watch for traffic while Vern steered the plane.
C'est tres drole pour moi parce que, maybe they couldn't walk any more at that age, but they could sure still fly!! At old age the government makes old people to have tests to see if they can still drive a car, and if they don't pass, they take their licences (and often relatives take the car away)
I don't think the same testing applies to still flying a plane at age 80! "You can take my car, but you can't have my plane, LOL